Diocesan News

Lithuanian Archbishop Visits Brooklyn Parish

July 23, 2014
Archbishop Gintaras Grusas of Vilnius, Lithuania, administers the sacrament of Confirmation at Annunciation Church in Williamsburg.
Archbishop Gintaras Grusas of Vilnius, Lithuania, administers the sacrament of Confirmation at Annunciation Church in Williamsburg.

The Lithuanian community of Brooklyn and Queens was visited this spring by Archbishop Gintaras Grusas of Vilnius, Lithuania.

Archbishop Grusas celebrated Mass at Annunciation Church, Williamsburg, during which he conferred Confirmation.

It marked the first time in Annunciation’s long history that the members of the Lithuanian community have hosted an archbishop from their homeland.

Following the Confirmation liturgy, a reception was held in honor of the archbishop, the confirmandi and their families. The invocation was given by Father Vytautas Volertas, coordinator of the Lithuianin apostolate in the diocese. Lithuanian Consul General Valdemaras Sarapinas also was present.

The introduction of the confirmandi was made by their instructor, Dr. Milda Chacar-Palubinskas.

The archbishop‘s visit to Brooklyn concluded with a trip to the newly dedicated Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, Prospect Heights.

Archbishop Grusas was particularly interested in a mural there that depicts an image of Our Lady of Vilnius, a painting that has been venerated for centuries in a chapel in Lithuania’s capital city, the seat of the archdiocese led by the archbishop.

Archbishop Gintaras Grusas of Vilnius, Lithuania, was the first archbishop from that country to visit the Lithuanian parish of the Annunciation, Williamsburg, in its 141-year history. Established to serve Germans in the area, Annunciation became a Lithuanian parish in 1914.
Archbishop Gintaras Grusas of Vilnius, Lithuania, was the first archbishop from that country to visit the Lithuanian parish of the Annunciation, Williamsburg, in its 141-year history. Established to serve Germans in the area, Annunciation became a Lithuanian parish in 1914.